Bandit were an English rock band, formed in 1976 and disbanded in 1979. They are not to be confused with the same Bandit from the US who released their only album in 1975 on

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...

Background

Bandit released two albums with different line-ups. Bandit's debut ''Bandit'' was released in late 1976 on

Arista Records Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...

. This album featured Jim Diamond on lead vocals, Danny McIntosh on guitar, future

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

bassist

Cliff Williams Clifford Williams (born 14 December 1949) is an English musician, best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. He started his professional music career in 1967 and had previously been in the English g ...

James Litherland James Litherland (born 6 September 1949) is an English singer and guitarist best known as a founding member of the progressive rock band Colosseum. He was born in Salford, Lancashire, England. He is the father of singer and producer James Bla ...

on guitar and harmonica, and drummer

Graham Broad Graham Broad (born 10 March 1957) is an English drummer who has been playing professionally since the age of fifteen, after attending the Royal College of Music in 1970. He is a former pupil of drumming educator Lloyd Ryan, who also taught Phi ...

, later of

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. In 1965, he co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd as the bassist. Following the departure of the group's main songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became ...

' band. All except Williams wrote, though Diamond wrote about half the material. A single entitled "Ohio" (written by Diamond) was released from the album, but failed to chart. The

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

music scene of the time caused a lack of attention and the band later parted ways. Diamond went on to join

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

, who gained a UK Top 10

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

with " I Won't Let You Down". He later went solo and scored two more top ten hits. The band continued, undergoing an almost total overhaul, with only guitarist McIntosh remaining. New recruits were Gerry Trew on lead vocals, drummer Theodore Thunder (real name John Dentith), and bassist Tony Lester. Lester now wrote the bulk of the band's material. The second album, ''Partners in Crime'', was produced by Matthew Fisher of Procol Harum and released by

Ariola Records Ariola (also known as Ariola Records, Ariola Express, Ariola-Eurodisc and BMG Ariola) is a German record label. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of the Bertelsmann Music Group, which in turn has become a part of the international ...

in 1978. "One Way Love", a single from the album (penned by Lester) reached No. 76 on the American ''Billboard'' chart. A third album was recorded and featured guitarist

Mick Grabham Mick Grabham (born Michael Grabham, 22 January 1948, Sunderland, County Durham, England) is an English rock guitarist. He played lead guitar for Procol Harum after the departure of Dave Ball, beginning with their album, '' Grand Hotel'' (1973) t ...

Procol Harum Procol Harum () were an English rock music, rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single "A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold more than List of best-selling si ...

(replacing McIntosh) but was never released and finally the band broke up. A five-song EP from the unreleased album was released in 2016 entitled ''Bandit3 EP''. The band's final tour was with John Miles in 1979 with the lineup Trew, Lester, Grabham and Thunder. Both full-length Bandit albums are long out of print. McIntosh is now the guitarist for, and husband of, the singer-songwriter

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bandit British rock music groups Musical groups established in 1976 Musical groups disestablished in 1978 1976 establishments in the United Kingdom Arista Records artists Ariola Records artists